NAIA Football National Championship

NAIA Football National Championship
NAIA Football National Championship
In operation	1956–present
Preceded by	Small college polls &; NAIA Division II Championship
Number of playoff teams	16
Championship trophy	Tom Osborne Trophy
Television partner(s)	ESPN3
Most playoff championships	Texas A&I (7)
Current champion	Morningside
Website	NAIA Football

The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Football National Championship is decided by a post-season playoff system featuring the best NAIA college football teams in the United States. Under sponsorship of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, the championship game has been played annually since 1956.^[1] In 1970, NAIA football was divided into two divisions, Division I and Division II, with a championship game played in each division. In 1997, NAIA football was again consolidated into one division. The 2019 game was played at the Eddie G. Robinson Stadium in Grambling, Louisiana.^[2]

Texas A&I (now known as Texas A&M–Kingsville) have been the most prolific program with seven NAIA championships. Carroll (MT) are the most successful team still playing at the NAIA level, with 6 national titles.

Morningside University is the current champion, having defeated the Grand View Vikings in the 2021 championship, 38-28.

Game name[]

Over the years, the NAIA championship games were played under a variety of names:

Aluminum Bowl (1956)
Holiday Bowl (1957–1960)^[a]
Camellia Bowl (1961–1963)^[b]
Champion Bowl (1964–1976 and 1980–1996, Division I games only)
Apple Bowl (1977, Division I game only)
Palm Bowl (1978–1979, Division I games only)

A separate NAIA Division II Football National Championship was played between 1970 and 1996, when there were two divisions at the NAIA level.

Results[]

Year	Champion	Score	Runner-up	Site	Winning head coach(es)
1956	Montana State Saint Joseph's (IN)	0–0^[c]		Little Rock, Arkansas	Tony Storti Bob Jauron
1957	Pittsburg State	27–26	Hillsdale	Saint Petersburg, Florida	Carnie Smith
1958	Northeastern State	19–13	Arizona State–Flagstaff	Saint Petersburg, Florida	Harold "Tuffy" Stratton
1959	Texas A&I	20–7	Lenoir–Rhyne	Saint Petersburg, Florida	Gil Steinke
1960	Lenoir–Rhyne	15–14	Humboldt State	Saint Petersburg, Florida	Clarence Stasavich
1961	Pittsburg State	12–7	Linfield	Sacramento, California	Carnie Smith
1962	Central State (OK)	28–13	Lenoir–Rhyne	Sacramento, California	Al Blevins
1963	Saint John's (MN)	33–27	Prairie View A&M	Sacramento, California	John Gagliardi
1964	Concordia (MN) Sam Houston State	7–7^[c]		Augusta, Georgia	Jake Christiansen Paul Pierce
1965	Saint John's (MN)	33–0	Linfield	Augusta, Georgia	John Gagliardi
1966	Waynesburg	42–21	Wisconsin–Whitewater	Tulsa, Oklahoma	Carl DePasqua
1967	Fairmont State	28–21	Eastern Washington	Morgantown, West Virginia	Harold "Deacon" Duvall
1968	Troy State	43–35	Texas A&I	Montgomery, Alabama	Billy Atkins
1969	Texas A&I	32–7	Concordia (MN)	Kingsville, Texas	Gil Steinke
1970	Texas A&I	48–7	Wofford	Greenville, South Carolina	Gil Steinke
1971	Livingston	14–12	Arkansas Tech	Birmingham, Alabama	Mickey Andrews
1972	East Texas State	21–18	Carson–Newman	Commerce, Texas	Ernest Hawkins
1973	Abilene Christian	42–14	Elon	Shreveport, Louisiana	Wally Bullington
1974	Texas A&I	34–23	Henderson State	Kingsville, Texas	Gil Steinke
1975	Texas A&I	37–0	Salem	Kingsville, Texas	Gil Steinke
1976	Texas A&I	26–0	Central Arkansas	Kingsville, Texas	Gil Steinke
1977	Abilene Christian	24–7	Southwestern Oklahoma State	Seattle, Washington	DeWitt Jones
1978	Angelo State	34–14	Elon	McAllen, Texas	Jim Hess
1979	Texas A&I	20–14	Central State (OK)	McAllen, Texas	Ron Harms
1980	Elon	17–10	Northeastern State	Burlington, North Carolina	Jerry Tolley
1981	Elon	3–0	Pittsburg State	Burlington, North Carolina	Jerry Tolley
1982	Central State (OK)	14–11	Mesa State	Edmond, Oklahoma	Gary Howard
1983	Carson–Newman	36–28	Mesa State	Grand Junction, Colorado	Ken Sparks
1984	Carson–Newman Central Arkansas	19–19^[c]		Conway, Arkansas	Ken Sparks Harold Horton
1985	Hillsdale Central Arkansas	10–10^[c]		Conway, Arkansas	Dick Lowry Harold Horton
1986	Carson–Newman	17–0	Cameron	Jefferson City, Tennessee	Ken Sparks
1987	Cameron	30–2	Carson–Newman	Lawton, Oklahoma	Brian Naber
1988	Carson–Newman	56–21	Adams State	Jefferson City, Tennessee	Ken Sparks
1989	Carson–Newman	34–20	Emporia State	Jefferson City, Tennessee	Ken Sparks
1990	Central State (OH)	38–16	Mesa State	Grand Junction, Colorado	Billy Joe
1991	Central Arkansas	19–16	Central State (OH)	Wilberforce, Ohio	Mike Isom
1992	Central State (OH)	19–16	Gardner–Webb	Boiling Springs, North Carolina	Billy Joe
1993	East Central	49–35	Glenville State	Ada, Oklahoma	Hank Walbrick
1994	Northeastern State	13–12	Arkansas–Pine Bluff	Pine Bluff, Arkansas	Tom Eckert
1995	Central State (OH)	37–7	Northeastern State	Tahlequah, Oklahoma	Rick Comegy
1996	Southwestern Oklahoma State	33–31	Montana Tech	Weatherford, Oklahoma	Paul Sharp
1997	Findlay	14–7	Willamette	Savannah, Tennessee	Dick Strahm
1998	Azusa Pacific	17–14	Olivet Nazarene	Savannah, Tennessee	Vic Shealy
1999	Northwestern Oklahoma State	34–26	Georgetown (KY)	Savannah, Tennessee	Tim Albin
2000	Georgetown (KY)	20–0	Northwestern Oklahoma State	Savannah, Tennessee	Bill Cronin
2001	Georgetown (KY)	49–27	Sioux Falls	Savannah, Tennessee	Bill Cronin
2002	Carroll (MT)	28–7	Georgetown (KY)	Savannah, Tennessee	Mike Van Diest
2003	Carroll (MT)	41–28	Northwestern Oklahoma State	Savannah, Tennessee	Mike Van Diest
2004	Carroll (MT)	15–13 (2 OT)	Saint Francis (IN)	Savannah, Tennessee	Mike Van Diest
2005	Carroll (MT)	27–10	Saint Francis (IN)	Savannah, Tennessee	Mike Van Diest
2006	Sioux Falls	23–19	Saint Francis (IN)	Savannah, Tennessee	Kalen DeBoer
2007	Carroll (MT)	17–9	Sioux Falls	Savannah, Tennessee	Mike Van Diest
2008	Sioux Falls	23–7	Carroll (MT)	Rome, Georgia	Kalen DeBoer
2009	Sioux Falls	25–22	Lindenwood	Rome, Georgia	Kalen DeBoer
2010	Carroll (MT)	10–7	Sioux Falls	Rome, Georgia	Mike Van Diest
2011	Saint Xavier	24–20	Carroll (MT)	Rome, Georgia	Mike Feminis
2012	Marian (IN)	30–27 (OT)	Morningside	Rome, Georgia	Ted Karras Jr.
2013	Grand View	35–23	Cumberlands (KY)	Rome, Georgia	Mike Woodley
2014	Southern Oregon	55–31	Marian (IN)	Daytona Beach, Florida	Craig Howard
2015	Marian (IN)	31–14	Southern Oregon	Daytona Beach, Florida	Mark Henninger
2016	Saint Francis (IN)	38–17	Baker	Daytona Beach, Florida	Kevin Donley
2017	Saint Francis (IN)	24–13	Reinhardt	Daytona Beach, Florida	Kevin Donley
2018	Morningside	35–28	Benedictine	Daytona Beach, Florida	Steve Ryan
2019	Morningside	40–38	Marian (IN)	Grambling, Louisiana	Steve Ryan
2020^[d]	Lindsey Wilson	45–13	Northwestern (IA)	Grambling, Louisiana	Chris Oliver
2021	Morningside	38–28	Grand View	Durham, North Carolina	Steve Ryan

^ Not to be confused with the NCAA Division I bowl of the same name.
^ Not to be confused with the NCAA Division I bowl of the same name.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Game ended in a tie with both teams as co-champions.
^ Game played in spring 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Championships by school[]

Division II titles are not included in this list.

Team	Championships	Winning years
Texas A&I (Texas A&M–Kingsville)	7	1959, 1969, 1970, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1979
Carroll (MT)	6	2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2010
Carson–Newman	5	1983, 1984,^[a] 1986, 1988, 1989
Central Arkansas	3	1984,^[a] 1985,^[a] 1991
Central State (OH)	3	1990, 1992, 1995
Sioux Falls	3	2006, 2008, 2009
Morningside	3	2018, 2019, 2021
Pittsburg State	2	1957, 1961
Saint John's (MN)	2	1963, 1965
Abilene Christian	2	1973, 1977
Elon	2	1980, 1981
Central State (OK) (Central Oklahoma)	2	1962, 1982
Northeastern State	2	1958, 1994
Georgetown (KY)	2	2000, 2001
Marian (IN)	2	2012, 2015
Saint Francis (IN)	2	2016, 2017
Montana State	1	1956^[a]
Saint Joseph's (IN)	1	1956^[a]
Lenoir–Rhyne	1	1960
Concordia–Moorhead	1	1964^[a]
Sam Houston State	1	1964^[a]
Waynesburg	1	1966
Fairmont State	1	1967
Troy State	1	1968
Livingston	1	1971
East Texas State (Texas A&M–Commerce)	1	1972
Angelo State	1	1978
Hillsdale	1	1985^[a]
Cameron	1	1987
East Central (OK)	1	1993
Southwestern Oklahoma	1	1996
Findlay (OH)	1	1997
Azusa Pacific	1	1998
Northwestern Oklahoma	1	1999
Saint Xavier	1	2011
Grand View	1	2013
Southern Oregon	1	2014
Lindsey Wilson	1	2020

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Shared title

References[]

^ "NAIA Football Championship History". National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. Retrieved April 7, 2008. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
^ "Visitor Info: Football National Championship". July 29, 2014. Retrieved December 11, 2014.

[holiday-3] Not to be confused with the NCAA Division I bowl of the same name.

[Camellia-4] Not to be confused with the NCAA Division I bowl of the same name.

[tie-5] Game ended in a tie with both teams as co-champions.

[spring-6] Game played in spring 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

[tie2-7] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Shared title

[naiahistory-1] "NAIA Football Championship History". National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. Retrieved April 7, 2008. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

[2] "Visitor Info: Football National Championship". July 29, 2014. Retrieved December 11, 2014.

[1]

[2]

[a]

[b]

[c]

[d]

[a]

v t Systems used to determine college football national championships
NCAA Division I-A/FBS	Various polling systems (1869–present) Bowl Coalition (1992–1994) Bowl Alliance (1995–1997) Bowl Championship Series (1998–2013) College Football Playoff (2014–present)
NCAA Division I-AA/FCS	NCAA Division I Football Championship (1978–present)
NCAA Division II	NCAA Division II Football Championship (1973–present)
NCAA Division III	NCAA Division III Football Championship (1973–present)
NAIA	NAIA Football National Championship (1956–present) NAIA Division II Football National Championship (1970–1996)
Additional systems	Black college football national championship (1920–present) UPI small college football rankings (1958–1974) AP small college football rankings (1960–1974) NCCAA Victory Bowl (1997–present)